Liese Prokop, Austria's first female interior minister and a former Olympic medalist in the pentathlon, has died, the government said yesterday. She was 65.
Prokop, who was appointed in 2004 to oversee Austria's police and overall security, died on Sunday night of a ruptured aorta, the Interior Ministry said. She died while being rushed to a hospital in St Poelten, about 80km west of Vienna, after complaining of chest pains and collapsing.
Prokop, who placed second in the pentathlon at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, broke the world record in the event the following year and set a national record in the shot put that stood until 1999. The women's pentathlon was replaced by the heptathlon in the Olympic program in 1984.
She spent 23 years in regional politics before joining Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's Cabinet. Prior to taking over the Interior Ministry, she was deputy governor of Lower Austria province, the most populous state in the Alpine nation of 8 million.
Schuessel said in a statement that Prokop's sudden death had shocked everyone. He called her "an extraordinary woman with a remarkable life as both a world-class athlete and a magnificent politician."
"Her large heart failed yesterday," Schuessel added.
Born on March 27, 1941, in Vienna, Prokop began her political career in 1969 as a delegate to the regional assembly of Lower Austria province.
A member of Schuessel's center-right Austrian People's Party, she won admiration for her ability to listen to and connect with ordinary citizens while pressing for a crackdown on street crime.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB